Indian Caves with Colter Lee

Colter Lee come over early this morning.  Papa and I set off with him by 8, to hike to two Indian caves.  The first was on the far side of Rattlesnake Canyon.  We explored the site, with Colter Lee climbing into all the shallow caves.  We checked out the red marks on the wall, the grindstone, and I found a stone carving tool laying in the rocks.  A real find!  As we were hiking back down into the canyon, we saw a rattlesnake.  Yikes!

We drove the Ranger to another site, and hiked to a second Indian cave.  This one was smaller, but has great places to climb.  After finding a tool at the first site, Colter Lee was hopeful to find an arrowhead.  We had no such luck, but we had a good time!

 

Rainy Day

Yesterday was a busy day for Papa.  Bulls knocked some fence down up the mountain, and fifty plus cows escaped the pasture.  Papa repaired the fence and then he and Oscar rounded up the cows in light rain to move them back.  The rain all around us was beautiful!

Friend's Visit

Jennie, a lifelong friend of Papa's, visited us at the ranch.  Papa and Jennie were friends since elementary years and graduated from high school together.  They reconnected at their 50th class reunion last October.  She drove from Tucson early in the morning, arriving on the ranch by 9:30.  We picked her up at the gate and drove in on the Ranger.  We sat on the porch and talked until lunchtime.  By 2, clouds were rolling in and we drove Jennie back to her car, at the gate.  We enjoyed the day!

Kartchner Caverns

I picked up Madilyn, Colter Lee, and Traven by 9:30 yesterday morning for a trip to Kartchner Caverns.  Along the way, we stopped for a few minutes on 3 Links Ranch to let a roundup pass.

Within an hour, we arrived at Kartchner Caverns.  We had a snack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then put everything in the Hummer before meeting our group.  This was the first time visit to a cave for Madilyn, Colter Lee, and Traven.  They seemed to take it all in, listening to our guide's descriptions of all the different formations.  We had a good day!

 

 

Rock Hunting with Traven

During the ranch roundups, Traven saw two places with pretty rocks.  He knows that I collect rocks, so we made a date to go check them out.  Colter drove Traven over by 9 this morning, and we set off in the Ranger.  Traven got the gates.  We found amazing rocks! We also saw a cottontail bunny, a big bug, caterpillars, we looked for frogs around the dirt tank on top of the hill, and we had a snack in tall grass.  Papa helped Traven clean rocks when we got home, while I made lunch.  Traven wanted to watch Branding slideshows after lunch, and he fell fast asleep on the sofa.  We had fun!

 

Branding Crew 2015

A terrific crew!

More Branding

 

It seemed everyone was especially tired after this summer's Branding.  Most of us had a week of early mornings, rising at 3:30-4:00.  The calves were bigger this year too.  We've had a wetter than normal spring and summer, so far.  Throwing down bigger animals is harder work!

The Branding

Organized chaos is the best way to describe Branding.  Everyone has a job and everyone watches out for everyone else.  Its hot and smelly, with calf flesh burning.  Its gory, with blood flowing from notched ears and bull castrations.  And its a really fun and very dirty day!

Getting Ready to Brand

When sorting was done, the propane burners were brought out.  A fire was started, branding irons heated, and everyone took a short break.  The peaches picked at Apple Annie's were set out in the shed, along with apples, and freshly baked cookies and muffins.  There were coolers of drinks.  The kids gathered in the corral to chase the first group of calves.  This was an enjoyable part of the day!

 

Sorting

Once the cows and calves were in the corral, cowboys sorted and separated the calves from their mothers, putting the calves into groups of 30 for branding.  I think of sorting as a dance.